Doctors Without Borders urges RSF in Sudan’s El-Fasher to let civilians flee

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) - Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Sunday called on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied armed groups to immediately allow civilians to leave Sudan's El-Fasher city as conditions in the North Darfur capital are deteriorating, with abuses against residents escalating.

“We urgently call on the RSF and allied armed groups to spare civilians and let them flee El Fasher,” Michel Olivier Lacharite, MSF head of emergencies, said in a statement published by the organization on US social media company X.

He also urged the members of the quad -- the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt -- to use their leverage "to stop the bloodbath,” in the city.

The group said it is closely monitoring the situation and warned that the international community “cannot look away” as the humanitarian crisis deepens in El-Fasher.

On Oct. 26, the RSF seized control of the city of El-Fasher in North Darfur state and committed massacres against civilians, according to local and international organizations, amid warnings that the assault could entrench the geographical partition of Sudan.

Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed 20,000 people and displaced more than 15 million as refugees and internally displaced persons, according to UN and local reports.